Which carries more weight? The Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia or the world championships in Germany?
This early, the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) is faced with a dilemma as it deals with two major meets separated by just a few weeks from each other in 2017.
While the SEAG in Kuala Lumpur appears to be an event involving minnows – with the Philippines and Thailand as the region’s top two nations in the sport – the competition for medal placing there has always been competitive and fierce.
Boxing accounted for five gold medals during the 2015 Singapore SEAG and is being expected to deliver anew even if competitions in the women’s side have been scrapped.
But here’s the catch: the KL Seag is scheduled Aug. 19 to 31.
The world championships, however, is close by: Sept. 22 to 30 in Hamburg.
Told about the proximity of the two slugfests, the ABAP doesn’t seem that alarmed at the moment, saying they can handle the matter.
“Both tournaments are important to us,” said ABAP executive director Ed Picson when asked to comment.
“We will send the best boxers available for both. It might be possible to send same boxers but if we have enough material, we can send separate teams.”